The human heart is the muscle that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the vascular network. Veins are vessels that carry blood toward the heart while arteries carry blood away from the heart. The human heart consists of two atrial chambers and two ventricular chambers. Atrial chambers receive blood from the body and the ventricular chambers, which include larger muscular walls, pump blood from the heart.
For the vast majority of the population, the events associated with the movement of blood happen without circumstance. However, for others the heart fails to provide adequate pumping capabilities. These heart failures may include congestive heart failure (commonly referred to as heart disease), which is a condition that results in any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the heart to fill with or pump blood throughout the body. Presently, there is no known cure for heart disease and long-term treatment is limited to a heart transplant.
While the wait-list for receiving a heart continues to grow, alternative measures, such as circulatory assist devices, can at least temporary improve the quality of life of those patients on the wait-list. These systems were developed to provide assistance to the heart by way of a mechanical pump. Blood may then be circulated throughout the vascular network despite the diseased heart tissue. Traditionally, these circulatory assist devices include an implantable or extracorporeal pump, a controller (internal or external), and inflow and outflow cannulae connecting the pump to structures within the vascular system.
Circulatory assist devices offer great symptom relief to adult patients. However, pediatric patients, whose cardiac output demand changes over time, may require several follow-up surgeries to replace their existing mechanical pump with another pump capable of greater fluid output. Not only does this create a surgical risk to the pediatric patient, but the appropriate replacement mechanical pump may not be readily compatible with the previously implanted cannulae and components. Furthermore, flow adjustability mechanisms included in conventional mechanical pumps may not sufficiently reduce the blood flow for pediatric patients, and particularly, neonatal patients. Thus, there continues to be a need for circulatory assist devices that are adaptable to the ever changing cardiac demand of a growing pediatric patient.